Monthly Archives: December 2007

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I don’t want to pretend that i read the book – but I will read it. I ordered it 5 minutes ago via a famous book selling website. I am recommending the book because it was mentioned to me 3 times today. I am not a fan of self-help books that claim to dramatically change a person’s life, but I give this book a chance. And it’s also the provoking title that I like.

Shanghai. World Expo 2010. Sascha Glasl intend to ask visitors to influence the expo with their memories of the country’s past. He will collect personal souvenirs comprising single German memories. Together they will form a huge pile. As such, the souvenir functions as a way of communicating German memories.

In order to obtain the souvenirs he started a donation appeal in Germany. Germans have been asked to send a personal memento – an object, which fitted in a post package (size ‘S’) plus a description of the memento. These items of everyday life are conserved in transparent luggage bags.

The souvenirs and the concomitant pile will be assembled during the next 3 years until the Expo opens. During the Expo the mountain will decrease, as each visitor takes away a luggage-bag as a ’gift’. In this way, new memories show up every day. At the end of the Expo the German pavilion will consist only of a green park. This donation of souvenirs enables Germans to deal with their history and to give their nation a true and complex identity.